#but also Armand couldn't really trust Daniel's (true) love because he just doesn't know how to

[knownoshamc]

okay but Armand's "She wanted to say yes... but she didn't trust you. You hadn't given her a reason to" and Assad Zaman's "(Armand) is flawed in his need and desire for love. Does he know what love is? Does he know how to receive it? Would he recognize it, if he received love?"

do you see what I see

[duriens]

what if "she (Alice) wanted to say yes but she didn't trust you / you hadn't given her a reason to" wasn't really about the Alice-is-Armand theory (or, not only about that) but the key to interpreting why Armand chose the coven instead of Louis (before changing his mind later):

she (Armand) wanted to say yes (wanted to say yes to Louis' plan - pick Louis over the coven) but you (Louis) didn't give her (Armand) a reason to trust you (to trust Louis)

he wanted to follow Louis' plan about fooling the coven/Santiago etc etc and believe that Louis' love for him was truly genuine, but in the end Louis himself didn't really show him complete devotion the way he wanted to and in Armand's mind there was always the doubt that he was Lestat's creature, and of Lestat first and foremost. Louis didn't really give him any true, solid reason to believe otherwise (that is, until Madeleine's revelation of the depth of Louis' affection for him?) This is maybe why show Armand chose the security of the coven before Louis - he felt the coven would always pick him first, while he worried this wasn't the case with Louis.

'She wanted to say yes but she didn't trust you' (He loved you but he wasnt sure you would love him the same way a coven of 200 years already loved him)

I was trying to find a reason for that strange exchange on Alice and how weird it was for Armand to say such a thing to Daniel. I believed the Armand-is-Alice theory so firmly before the last episode but now I'm not so sure, maybe DM will take place entirely in the present time, and if that's the case then that sentence was uttered by Armand in relation to his situation with Louis and that is why he looked so distraught saying it, because it's his admission, his truth. Just he worded it in a way Daniel could understand and believe it, and be hurt by it too.

Or maybe it can be both. Maybe it happened twice that Armand couldn't really trust his lover's love for him and consequently 'said no', and Armand can still be Alice. (I would love that, still)

All this still doesn't account for why Armand changed his mind again later - Lestat saved Louis and apparently Armand had a change of heart and rescued Louis cause he... was moved by Louis' cries? Felt guilty? Was it an accident that in the end he obtained what he originally wanted but refused to fight for? (which is so funny because it's the opposite of what book Armand does: do his utmost to get Louis) (and is also tragic because he obtained the half-assed version of Louis' love he originally had said no to: in front of him, Louis picked him simply to spite Lestat, and Armand did kind of look distraught about it) (or maybe it was Madeleine's revelation that Louis really loved him what swayed him in the end, but not enough to fight the coven for Louis)

and what about his feelings for the coven when inevitably Louis killed them all?? we're talking about the coven Armand led for centuries that he put FIRST over Louis. that HAD given him reasons to trust them. and as soon as the plan foiled he switched and picked Louis again? That felt a little weird to me,if anything because I always thought Armand was the type to set his mind on something (or someone) and fight teeth and nails for it/them (book Armand and his pursue of lestat, his pursue of Louis, Daniel's chase, etc)

so show Armand being a little flag that flaps wherever the wind blows did put me off a little, I guess, at least until we know more about him in s3 and understand show Armand better.